Willy Wonka Birthday Party Ideas

Develop an exciting Willy Wonka birthday party atmosphere by using the following ideas. Invite kids for a day full of chocolate and candy fun!

Resources:

Invitations

Use chocolate-bar wrappers for your Willy Wonka party invitations. Attach "golden tickets" to wrappers announcing that the holder is invited to Willy Wonka birthday party.

Write "Wonka's Golden Ticket" on pieces of paper (shaped like tickets). Then continue with "Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this golden ticket! You're invited to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Party to celebrate (birthday child's name) __th Birthday! Present this ticket at (address) at (time) on (day). Be certain to have this ticket with you, otherwise you will not be admitted."

As a variation, you can insert the "golden tickets" inside chocolate bars. Then tape the wrappers in place, and include the note that says "Open the chocolate bar to read the birthday message!"

Lastly, you can take a picture of your child wearing Willy Wonka costume. Print the picture on the front of white invitation cards, and include your Willy Wonka birthday party information inside.

Decorations

Ask the birthday child to help you set up festive atmosphere by using Willy Wonka party decorations. Use brown and purple colors, and try to stay within the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme as much as you can.

Tape signs to your fence that say "Welcome to Chocolate Factory", "Nation of Loompaland This Way", etc. Hang chocolate bars from the trees along with cacao containers, real or fake nuts, etc.

If you plan to have your Willy Wonka birthday party in the evening, then spread Christmas lights all over the yard. Hang candy canes, gumdrops, candy lights, etc. Dangle red and white paper streamers spreading them around the yard.

Blow up balloons and place small chocolate bars inside. Attach real mini chocolates to paper streamers with tape. Hang lollipops and other candy from the ceiling using fishing line.

Tape Willy Wonka posters to the walls. To keep the kids from wandering around the house, you can put signs "Danger! Keep out! Only authorized Oompa-Loompas admitted!" on the doors of the rooms that are "off limits" (e.g., siblings room, parents bedroom, etc).

For added fun, you can draw an outline of your child on poster board and decorate it to look like an Oompa Loompa. Then cut out the face, and hang the poster from the ceiling. (Have it low enough so the Willy Wonka birthday party guests can put their faces in.) Take pictures of the kids' faces inside the poster, and send photos with thank-you notes after the party.

Cover your Willy Wonka birthday party table with a theme cloth. Place a large clear bowl filled with chocolate pudding for your table centerpiece. Spread out mini chocolate bars at each table setting. Tie balloons to the chairs.

Guest Arrival and Introductory Activities

Your Willy Wonka birthday party guests have to arrive at your door holding their "golden tickets." Enlist one of the helpers to be Oompa Loompa: he has to greet and usher them into the party area.

*Guess How Many: Fill a jar with mini chocolate bars, and have the kids guess how many bars are in the jar. Give the chocolate bars to a child who guesses closest to the amount, and give the leftovers to other players.

*Jigsaw Puzzle: Before the Willy Wonka birthday party, download and print an image from the official Charlie and the Chocolate Factory website. Glue it to a piece of cardboard.

Next, draw jigsaw puzzle shapes with a pencil on the backside and cut them out - so you have jigsaw puzzle pieces. At party time, invite the kids to put the jigsaw puzzle together.

*Sandy Candy: You can get "candy creation" kit from a party store. At activity time, have the kids create colorful candy concoctions that they can eat after dinner.

Favors

For Willy Wonka party favors, give out such items as theme posters, natural (low sugar) chocolate bars, "Oompa Loompa" whistles, gum balls, sticker sheets, etc.

Willy Wonka Birthday Party Games

*Pin the Hat on Willy Wonka: For this activity, you'll need a poster of Willy Wonka. (You can make one by enlarging and gluing image of Willy Wonka onto a poster board). Cut out top hat shapes out of black poster board (or paint them black). Put guests' initials as well as double-sided tape on the back side of each cutout.

Mount the poster on the wall. At game time, blindfold the kids one by one, spin them around and get them to stick their hat shapes on Willy Wonka where they belong.

As a variation, you can play "Pin the Golden Ticket on Charlie."

*Bubble Gum Blowing Contest: Give everyone a sour bubble gum to compete. This is a perfect activity during which to take photos.

*Gobstopper Hunt: Before the Willy Wonka birthday party, hide jawbreakers all over the party area. To start the game, announce that Mr. Slugworth has hidden the Everlasting Gobstoppers and that it's up to the kids to find them. Whoever finds the most, wins.

As a variation, you can use candies in different colors, and then set a point value for each candy of color found.

*Candy Necklaces: Fill several bowls with doughnut-shaped candy and cereal. Provide the guests with necklace strings, and let them create their own edible necklaces.

*Golden Egg-on-the-Spoon Relay: Hard-boil several eggs before the party. Paint the eggs in golden color using food dye.

At race time, divide the kids into two teams. Give the first player on each team a spoon and an egg (don't tell the kids that the eggs are hard-boiled), and have them walk as quickly as possible to another side of play area, around the chair and back to the starting line, balancing the eggs on the spoons.

If players drop an egg, they have to start over. The team to finish first, wins!

*Blind Man's Bluff: Choose one player to be the Blind Man, and blindfold him. All of the players form a circle around the Blind Man with their hands joined. The players start moving in one direction until the Blind Man claps three times. At that time, the players in the circle must stop. Then the Blind Man points at one of them and has one guess to name that person.

If the Blind Man guesses correctly, the two players switch places. If he guesses incorrectly, the player steps into the middle of the circle with the Blind Man.

The Blind Man stays blindfolded and tries to catch his chosen player, who in turn tries to avoid being caught. Once the Blind Man catches the player in the circle, he must try to identify the player by touching the player's clothing, hair, and other features (the player must stand still while the Blind Man does this).

When the player is correctly identified, the Blind Man removes the blindfold and joins the circle, and the identified player becomes the Blind Man. Play continues until everyone has taken a turn being the Blind Man, or it's time to move to the next activity.

*Snatch: While the Willy Wonka birthday party guests are in another room, place various objects on the table (arrange them in any way you want). Make sure the kids don't get to see what's on the table until you're ready to start the game.

The guests sit down at the table. Next, they take a good look at the small items, and remember what they are. A chosen player then turns his back and closes his eyes. While his eyes are closed, point to another player and have that player quietly take one of the toys or treats off the table, and hide them from view. The first player can then face the group again - he must determine which item is missing from the table, and who snatched it. Allow him or her a few guesses, and then have the culprit confess and show the stolen item.

Return the item to the table before beginning the next round. The player who snatched the item leads the next round, closing his or her eyes and facing away from the group. Select another player to snatch an item. Play continues until everyone has had a chance to snatch and guess.

*Oompa Loompa Crazy Dress Race: Before the Willy Wonka birthday party, create two sets of similar clothes (the larger and the more outrageous the clothes the better). You can have large long-sleeve shirts, shorts, and hats.

At game time, split the kids into two equal teams. On the command "Go", the first players on each team must put on the clothes as fast as possible, run to the other side of the play area, around the chair, and back to their lines. They must take the clothes off and pass them to the next players in line. The race continues in this fashion until all the players have done their relay leg. The team to finish first, wins!

*Watch a Show: At the end of the party, allow the kids to unwind watching a fragment from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie.

Willy Wonka Birthday Party Cake:

*Chocolate River Cake: Bake a rectangular cake. Carve out a "river" with a knife in the center through the length of the cake.

Decorate the cake with colorful icing, and place as many candies as you can get on it. Insert lollipop sticks inside the cake to line river edges. Fill the "river" with chocolate pudding. Design "Happy Birthday" message floating in the "river" out of candy letters.

Willy Wonka Birthday Party Food Ideas:

*Yummy Fruit: Serve chocolate covered strawberries, pineapple, grapes, blueberries, and so on.

*Pizza
*Potato Salad
*Sandwiches
*Macaroni & Cheese
*Chips & Dip
*Popcorn
*Pretzels (dipped in chocolate)
*Mini Hershey® Bars

Willy Wonka Birthday Party Drink Ideas:

*Fizzy Lifting Drink: Before the Willy Wonka party, freeze red, blue, and green Koo-Aid® drinks in ice cube trays. At party time, serve Sprite® with colored ice cubes.

*Chocolate Milk
*Sodas